Blogs - Tags - agility-at-scale urn:lsid:ibm.com:blogs:entries662015-02-12T13:38:38-05:00IBM Connections - Blogsurn:lsid:ibm.com:blogs:entry-bb388597-05aa-4e46-919a-abfba66ac821Large Agile TeamsScottAmbler120000HESDactiveComment Entriesapplication/atom+xml;type=entryLikes2015-01-09T13:39:30-05:002015-01-09T13:39:30-05:00<p dir="ltr">
I recently wrote a detailed article about <a href="https://disciplinedagiledelivery.wordpress.com/agility-at-scale/large-agile-teams/" target="_blank">Large&nbsp;Agile&nbsp;Teams</a> that was a detailed walkthrough of how to structure agile teams of various sizes. &nbsp;I suspect that this is the most comprehensive online discussion of this topic. &nbsp;The article addressed the following topics:</p>
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<strong>Organizing Agile Teams</strong>. &nbsp;The article starts with a summary of the results of some industry research that I&#39;ve done regarding the size of agile teams, showing that agile techniques are in fact being successfully applied on a variety of team sizes. &nbsp;It then goes into detail describing the organization structure of agile teams at various sizes. &nbsp;The article starts with a discussion of small agile teams, covering the common rhetoric of how to organize such a team and then making observations about what actually happens in practice. &nbsp;It then walks through two approaches to organizing medium sized teams of 15 to 50 people - a structure for a single team and a structure for a team of teams. &nbsp;Finally, it walks through how to organize a large agile program of 50+ people, focusing a fair bit on the need for a leadership team to coordinate the overall activities within the program. &nbsp;This advice is similar to what is seen in the SAFe framework although proves to be a bit more flexible and pragmatic in practice.</li>
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<strong>Supporting Large Agile Teams</strong>. &nbsp;The leadership structure to support a large agile team is reasonably straightforward once you understand the issues that such a team faces. &nbsp;In this section the article overviews the need for three important sub teams within your overall leadership team: The Product Delivery Team, The Product Management Team, and The Architecture Team. &nbsp;It also describes the need for an optional Independent Testing/Integration Team, something misleadingly labeled an integration team in SAFe, that reflects some of the known <a href="http://www.ambysoft.com/essays/agileTesting.html" target="_blank">agile&nbsp;testing&nbsp;and&nbsp;quality&nbsp;practices</a> that I&#39;ve been writing about for several years.</li>
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<strong>Organizing subteams</strong>. &nbsp;The article includes a detailed discussion for how to organize the work addressed by agile sub teams within a large agile program. &nbsp;These strategies include feature teams, component teams, and internal open source teams. &nbsp;As you would expect with the <a href="http://disciplinedagiledelivery.com" target="_blank">Disciplined&nbsp;Agile&nbsp;Delivery&nbsp;(DAD)&nbsp;framework</a>, the article clearly summarizes the advantages and disadvantages of each approach on provides guidance for when (not) to apply each one. &nbsp;I suspect you&#39;ll find this portion of the article to be one of the most coherent discussions of the Feature vs. Component team debate.</li>
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<strong>Tailoring agile practices. &nbsp;</strong>The article provides a detailed overview of how the various <a href="https://disciplinedagiledelivery.wordpress.com/process-goals/" target="_blank">DAD&nbsp;process&nbsp;goals</a> are tailored to address the issues faced by large teams. &nbsp;This advice includes: &nbsp;Do a bit more up-front requirements exploration; Do a bit more up-front architectural modelling; Do a bit more initial planning; Adopt more sophisticated coordination activities; Adopt more sophisticated testing strategies; and Integrate regularly. &nbsp;My hope is that you find this part of the article very illuminating regarding how the DAD framework provides flexible and lightweight advice for tailoring your approach to address the context of the situation that you face.</li>
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<strong>Other Resources</strong>. &nbsp;The article ends with a collection of links to other resources on this topic.</li>
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I welcome any feedback that you may have about&nbsp;<a href="https://disciplinedagiledelivery.wordpress.com/agility-at-scale/large-agile-teams/" target="_blank">Large&nbsp;Agile&nbsp;Teams</a>.</p>
I recently wrote a detailed article about Large&nbsp;Agile&nbsp;Teams that was a detailed walkthrough of how to structure agile teams of various sizes. &nbsp;I suspect that this is the most comprehensive online discussion of this topic. &nbsp;The article...104971urn:lsid:ibm.com:blogs:entries-59010112-9143-447a-ba21-e36e0f009a6bAgility@Scale: Strategies for Scaling Agile Software Development2015-01-19T21:45:56-05:00urn:lsid:ibm.com:blogs:entry-3838e258-d4b9-4819-bdd8-1f1bbcda95eeTen minutes to start working on the Cloud with JazzHubjl.marechaux060001NWA6activeComment Entriesapplication/atom+xml;type=entryLikes2013-10-30T11:31:33-04:002013-10-30T11:31:33-04:00<p dir="ltr">
You want to start a software development project on the Cloud? You have no money? You want to collaborate easily with a team?</p>
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JazzHub is the solution for you. Read this <a href="http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/rational/library/jazzhub-project/index.html" target="_blank">Project&nbsp;kickoff&nbsp;on&nbsp;JazzHub&nbsp;article</a> to understand how&nbsp;an agile team can start using JazzHub to collaborate efficiently on a new development.</p>
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And guess what?. JazzHub is free for public projects, and free for private projects through 2014 is you register by Dec 31, 2013.</p>
You want to start a software development project on the Cloud? You have no money? You want to collaborate easily with a team?
JazzHub is the solution for you. Read this Project&nbsp;kickoff&nbsp;on&nbsp;JazzHub&nbsp;article to understand how&nbsp;an...001446urn:lsid:ibm.com:blogs:entries-8c054795-1eba-4290-80af-3c3e2ab27479Pragmatic Architecture, DevOps, and Cloud Computing2015-03-13T12:38:48-04:00urn:lsid:ibm.com:blogs:entry-accf25a2-6039-4c76-ba0c-db5a429d759bSAFe: Get on the (agile) trainjl.marechaux060001NWA6activeComment Entriesapplication/atom+xml;type=entryLikes2013-07-12T15:43:41-04:002013-07-12T15:49:40-04:00<p dir="ltr">
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For those of you who read this blog since I started it, you probably know that I am a huge proponent of architecture and design in software development. I am also convinced that agile methodologies help us build better products.</p>
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A framework like Scrum is very good for managing software projects but it may not provide enough information for less experienced agile teams, or teams working in a complex environment (multiple Scrum teams, programs, agile initiatives at the enterprise level). And architecture and design are not really first class citizens in Scrum.</div>
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Here comes SAFe, the Scaled Agile Framework. And guess what ? Architecture is part of the framework. I like it! Looking at the<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><a href="http://scaledagileframework.com/" target="_blank">SAFe&nbsp;big&nbsp;picture</a><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>, the first thing that you will notice is that there are three different levels: Team, program, and portfolio. Let&#39;s have a look at the architecture in those levels from an architecture standpoint.</div>
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Team level</h3>
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The team level is where the agile team define, build, and test stories during iterations. During a time-box, the team builds assets until they deliver a Potentially Shippable Increment (PSI). The &nbsp;main architectural concepts at the team level are the Spikes, the NFRs, and the Refactoring.&nbsp;</div>
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The notion of<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><strong>spike<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></strong>comes from XP and it is good to see it reintroduced here. A technical spike is an activity to explore potential solution for a complex technical or design problem.</li>
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<strong>Non-Functional Requirement</strong><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(NFR), sometime called Quality of Service, is a constraint to the system. Any agile team building a software-intensive system has to take into account requirements such as availability, scalability, security, or transactional throughput.</li>
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<strong>Refactoring<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></strong>is another important architectural concept. It may be used to reduce the technical debt or to address emerging design needs (including new NFRs)</li>
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Program level</h3>
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SAFe introduces the concept of the Agile Release Train (ATR), where the ATR<em><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>&ldquo;is to the program what an iteration is to the team&rdquo;</em>. To put it simple, a train delivers features in a release, at a regular cadence.&nbsp;</div>
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An<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><strong>architectural feature</strong>&nbsp;is the technical aspect of a system that is needed to support a business functionality. &nbsp;Over time, architectural features may evolve into NFRs.</li>
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With architectural features implemented in a program, the enterprise incrementally builds an<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><strong>architectural runway</strong>. Instead of big up-front architecture, agile teams develop the technology platforms &nbsp;to support business needs during each release.</li>
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At the program level, the<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><strong>System Architect<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></strong>is responsible for the technical framework to support business needs. Architects focus on architectural features and NFRs. They are involved in the architectural runway. System architect is a role, not a job position. The role can be played by different individuals.</li>
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Portfolio level</h3>
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The portfolio level is where the enterprise defines its vision, its business strategy. &nbsp;High priority investment themes are implemented through agile programs to achieve business results.</div>
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<strong>Architectural epics</strong><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>are large technology initiative at the portfolio level. New epics are continuously identify to improve the technology platforms that deliver business functionality.&nbsp;</li>
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The<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><strong>Enterprise Architect</strong><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>operates at the portfolio level. The role is to drive the work around architectural epics and support the development team as needed. SAFe suggests a Kanban approach<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>to manage architectural epics.</li>
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SAFe is not meant to replace Scrum, but to scale Scrum to an enterprise business context. If you have to manage a portfolio and multiple programs in your organization, then SAFe can be a good option for you. And &nbsp;at the team level, agile team can keep using Scrum or other agile frameworks.</div>
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With SAFe, architecture is back in the game, and architectural activities are no longer hidden.<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><span style="font-size: 14px"><strong>Pragmatic architects, the agile world can be SAFer with you</strong></span>. So don&#39;t miss the train!</div>
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For those of you who read this blog since I started it, you probably know that I am a huge proponent of architecture and design in software development. I am also convinced that agile methodologies help us build better products.
A framework...002286urn:lsid:ibm.com:blogs:entries-8c054795-1eba-4290-80af-3c3e2ab27479Pragmatic Architecture, DevOps, and Cloud Computing2015-03-13T12:38:48-04:00urn:lsid:ibm.com:blogs:entry-26de5d04-55b4-441f-90d4-5b0f3d2b4569Design on a diet for agile teamsjl.marechaux060001NWA6activeComment Entriesapplication/atom+xml;type=entryLikes2013-06-20T15:41:07-04:002013-06-21T10:06:11-04:00<p dir="ltr">
Earlier this month, Dan Leroux and I delivered a session at the Innovate 2013 conference. Our objective was to cover two different aspects:</p>
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How <strong>architecture &amp; design</strong> fits in an agile environment (such as a team using Scrum)</li>
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How one team in the IBM lab is applying <strong>light design principles</strong> to develop a product</li>
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Back from Orlando, I created a <em>prezi </em>with some of the information that we presented during the conference<em>.(<span style="color:#008000;">Click the image to launch the presentation</span>)</em></p>
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<a href="http://prezi.com/gkdtbur_2dhn/?utm_campaign=share&amp;utm_medium=copy" target="_blank"><img alt="Design on diet" src="https://www.ibm.com/developerworks/community/blogs/jlmarechaux/resource/BLOGS_UPLOADED_IMAGES/prezi-design-diet-small.jpg" style=" display:block; margin: 1em 1em 0pt 0pt; float: left;" /></a></p>
Earlier this month, Dan Leroux and I delivered a session at the Innovate 2013 conference. Our objective was to cover two different aspects:
How architecture &amp; design fits in an agile environment (such as a team using Scrum)
How one team...002755urn:lsid:ibm.com:blogs:entries-8c054795-1eba-4290-80af-3c3e2ab27479Pragmatic Architecture, DevOps, and Cloud Computing2015-03-13T12:38:48-04:00urn:lsid:ibm.com:blogs:entry-95619e1f-3466-4970-8d33-81445e9da21bScrum or Maul: what is the best approach for agile teams?jl.marechaux060001NWA6activeComment Entriesapplication/atom+xml;type=entryLikes2013-05-22T20:29:26-04:002013-05-27T08:50:55-04:00<p dir="ltr">
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No, <span style="font-size:14px;"><strong>Maul </strong></span>is not a new framework for agile practitioners. Read a bit further and you will understand what I mean here. It may ever been easier for you if you have some knowledge about rugby (rugby is not a web framework, it is a sport!). After all, the Scrum framework took its name from the game of rugby.</div>
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As defined by the International Rugby Boad (IRB), <em>&ldquo;a <strong>scrum </strong>is formed in the field of play when eight players from each team, bound together in three rows for each team, close up with their opponents so that the heads of the front rows are interlocked. This creates a tunnel into which a scrum half throws the ball so that front row players can compete for possession by hooking the ball with either of their feet</em>.&rdquo;</p>
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Take a look at this video to understand what a scrum looks like: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9AnEYJSY7x8" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9AnEYJSY7x8</a></div>
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The same IRB explains that <em>&ldquo;A <strong>maul </strong>begins when a player carrying the ball is held by one or more opponents, and one or more of the ball carrier&rsquo;s team mates bind on the ball carrier. A maul therefore consists, when it begins, of at least three players, all on their feet; the ball carrier and one player from each team. All the players involved must be caught in or bound to the maul and must be on their feet and moving towards a goal line</em>.&rdquo;</div>
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Again, a small video to understand mauls: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Io2R4XZC29k" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Io2R4XZC29k</a></div>
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&nbsp;</div>
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In rugby, the primary objective it to ground the ball in the opponents&#39; in-goal (then a &quot;try&quot; is scored). But there are many different techniques to achieve this goal.&nbsp;</div>
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At first glance, <strong>scrums </strong>and <strong>mauls </strong>may seem similar, but the major difference is regarding <u><strong>who holds the ball</strong></u>. In a <strong>scrum</strong>, there is no ball carrier and players are no authorized to handle the ball. The ball &ldquo;belongs&rdquo; to the whole team until the scrum is over.&nbsp;</div>
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The approach is different in a <strong>maul</strong>. Someone grabs the ball and (try to) keep it while others from the teams help him move toward the opponent&#39;s in-goal.</div>
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Why am I talking about <span style="font-size:14px;"><strong>scrums </strong></span>and <span style="font-size:14px;"><strong>mauls </strong></span>in rugby? Well, I was having a discussion with colleagues recently about task allocation during a Sprint. The Scrum Guide is not very clear about tasks ownership. Task allocation is not really addressed, and the self-organized team commits to complete a set of item by the end of the sprint.</div>
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Nevertheless, there is a section in the Professional Scrum Master <a href="http://www.scrum.org/Assessments/Open-Assessments" target="_blank">open&nbsp;assessment</a>&nbsp;that clearly states that Sprint backlog items are never owned by an individual, but by the entire Development Team.</div>
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If no one owns a specific task, it looks like a <span style="font-size:14px;"><strong>scrum </strong></span>in rugby where team members know what they have to do as a group. They move forward, they collaborate, they progress toward their common objective, but no player grabs the ball.</div>
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I have been working in distributed teams the last 5 years. My teammates are in multiples geographies, in different time zones. In such an environment, teams may find it easier to assign tasks to individuals. This is an easy way to know precisely who does what, even if your team is not always in a single project room.</div>
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With tasked assigned to team members during a sprint, the approach seems to be more the one of a <strong><span style="font-size:14px;">maul</span></strong>. Someone owns a task (the ball), and everyone is helping the task owner to achieve the objective.</div>
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What about you? In your organization, in your agile projects, are you seeing more often the <span style="color:#008000;"><span style="font-size:14px;"><strong>scrum approach</strong></span></span> (no task assigned, the team &ldquo;owns&rdquo; the tasks) or the <span style="color:#ff8c00;"><span style="font-size:14px;"><strong>maul approach</strong></span></span> (tasks are assigned, and the task owner is helped by teammates). If you had to vote and choose one approach, which one would you prefer? Which one would best support your agile team: <span style="font-size:16px;"><span style="color:#008000;"><strong>Scrum</strong></span></span>, or <span style="font-size:16px;"><strong><span style="color:#ff8c00;">Maul</span></strong></span>?</div>
&nbsp;
No, Maul is not a new framework for agile practitioners. Read a bit further and you will understand what I mean here. It may ever been easier for you if you have some knowledge about rugby (rugby is not a web framework, it is a sport!). After all,...002215urn:lsid:ibm.com:blogs:entries-8c054795-1eba-4290-80af-3c3e2ab27479Pragmatic Architecture, DevOps, and Cloud Computing2015-03-13T12:38:48-04:00urn:lsid:ibm.com:blogs:entry-e5e21b12-89cd-4dbd-abd5-83ceda17d4c3I am speaking at Innovate 2013jl.marechaux060001NWA6activeComment Entriesapplication/atom+xml;type=entryLikes2013-05-13T20:48:03-04:002013-05-13T20:48:03-04:00<p dir="ltr">
In June, &nbsp;I will be a speaker at the Innovate Conference in Orlando, FL. The presentation will describe how a lightweight design approach supports agile teams to deliver software. Real examples from the internal Design Management development team (the IBM lab) &nbsp;will be used to illustrate the approach.</p>
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I am honored to co-present this session with Dan Leroux, Distinguished Engineer at the IBM Lab.&nbsp;</p>
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If you are interested in attending the session at the conference, here are the details</p>
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<strong>Session</strong>: 2131A</li>
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<strong>Title</strong>: Design on a Diet! A Lightweight Design Process</li>
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<strong>Room</strong>:&nbsp;Dolphin - Northern A1 &nbsp;</li>
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<strong>Date/time</strong>: Wed, 5/Jun, 08:30 AM - 09:30 AM &nbsp;</li>
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<a href="https://www.ibm.com/developerworks/community/blogs/jlmarechaux/resource/BLOGS_UPLOADED_IMAGES/Innovate2013_Speaking_banner_600x100.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="image" src="https://www.ibm.com/developerworks/community/blogs/jlmarechaux/resource/BLOGS_UPLOADED_IMAGES/Innovate2013_Speaking_banner_600x100.jpg" style=" display:block; margin: 1em 1em 0pt 0pt; float: left;" /></a></p>
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In June, &nbsp;I will be a speaker at the Innovate Conference in Orlando, FL. The presentation will describe how a lightweight design approach supports agile teams to deliver software. Real examples from the internal Design Management development team (the IBM...001523urn:lsid:ibm.com:blogs:entries-8c054795-1eba-4290-80af-3c3e2ab27479Pragmatic Architecture, DevOps, and Cloud Computing2015-03-13T12:38:48-04:00urn:lsid:ibm.com:blogs:entry-79bb7640-b0e2-402a-9286-b9b5ea74d3daInformationWeek webcast - Follow-up on Q&A questionsjl.marechaux060001NWA6activeComment Entriesapplication/atom+xml;type=entryLikes2013-02-05T20:57:34-05:002013-02-06T08:32:53-05:00On January 22, Vishy Ramaswamy and I talked about Agile architecture during an InformationWeek webcast: Agile Development: Three Pillars of Success. Questions which had not been answered during the Q&amp;<wbr />A session for lack of time are listed in this blog entry:<div> </div><div align="center" sizcache="25" sizset="136"> <a href="http://ibm.co/YBKtVc"><strong><font color="#ff0000">http://ibm.co/YBKtVc</font></strong></a></div><div />On January 22, Vishy Ramaswamy and I talked about Agile architecture during an InformationWeek webcast: Agile Development: Three Pillars of Success. Questions which had not been answered during the Q&amp; A session for lack of time are listed in this blog...001333urn:lsid:ibm.com:blogs:entries-8c054795-1eba-4290-80af-3c3e2ab27479Pragmatic Architecture, DevOps, and Cloud Computing2015-03-13T12:38:48-04:00urn:lsid:ibm.com:blogs:entry-7ad64e04-f15f-4a54-8e94-2a64d2d405adAgile Development: Three Pillars of Successjl.marechaux060001NWA6activeComment Entriesapplication/atom+xml;type=entryLikes2013-01-29T21:26:51-05:002013-01-29T21:26:51-05:00<div> </div><div>On January 22, I co-presented an InformationWeek webcast with <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); color: rgb(85, 85, 85); font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.5;">Vishy Ramaswamy. the architect of the </span><font color="#555555" face="Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"><span style="line-height: 19px;">Design Management Server. The webcast was mostly an informal discussion where Vishy and I shared our opinions on four different topics.</span></font></div><div><ol><li><span style="line-height: 1.5;">What is <b>Agile Architecture</b> and what is the difference between this approach and conventional design and development practices?</span></li><li><span style="line-height: 1.5;">What is a recommended practice for <b>just enough traceability</b> across the life cycle?</span></li><li><span style="line-height: 1.5;">What are the kind of architectural and design expressions suitable for <b>&quot;just enough&quot; design</b>?</span></li><li><span style="line-height: 1.5;">How do we still support generating or creating<b> formal models</b> from the <b>informal expressions</b>?</span></li></ol></div><div><span style="line-height: 1.5;"> The replay and the slides are available on--demand from the InformationWeek website at </span><a href="https://www.techwebonlineevents.com/ars/eventregistration.do?mode=eventreg&amp;F=1005386&amp;K=CAA1AC">https://www.techwebonlineevents.com/ars/eventregistration.do?mode=eventreg&amp;F=1005386&amp;K=CAA1AC</a>.<span style="line-height: 1.5;"> </span></div><div>To access the material, you need to register with a valid email address. You will receive an email with a link to the recording session. </div>
On January 22, I co-presented an InformationWeek webcast with Vishy Ramaswamy. the architect of the Design Management Server. The webcast was mostly an informal discussion where Vishy and I shared our opinions on four different topics. What is Agile...001803urn:lsid:ibm.com:blogs:entries-8c054795-1eba-4290-80af-3c3e2ab27479Pragmatic Architecture, DevOps, and Cloud Computing2015-03-13T12:38:48-04:00urn:lsid:ibm.com:blogs:entry-e837a508-acaa-4a1f-8a5a-ba704c29ca3aThe three pillars of Pragmatic architecturejl.marechaux060001NWA6activeComment Entriesapplication/atom+xml;type=entryLikes2013-01-23T19:30:06-05:002013-01-23T19:34:01-05:00
<div>Yesterday, I was co-presenting an InformationWeek webcast on <b>Agile Development: Three Pillars of Success</b>. With Vishy Ramaswamy , the lead architect for Design Manager, we talked about some agile architecture practices and how these practices were adopted by the IBM development team to create and deliver the <a href="https://jazz.net/products/design-management/">Design Manager</a> product.</div><div><br /></div><div>During the Q&amp;A session, there was a question that we saw a question that we did not answer (lack of time, too many good questions). It was something like:<i> “What should we pay attention to when we try to adopt agile architecture practices on our projects?”</i></div><div> </div><div><span style="line-height: 1.5;">When I started this blog, I used the following description (from </span><a href="http://bitly.com/Sg2FQe">http://bitly.com/Sg2FQe</a><span style="line-height: 1.5;">) to define what Pragmatic Architecture is:</span></div><img alt="image" src="https://dw1.s81c.com/developerworks/mydeveloperworks/blogs/jlmarechaux/resource/BLOGS_UPLOADED_IMAGES/pragmatic_small.jpg" style=" display:block; margin: 1em 1em 0pt 0pt; float: left; position:relative;" /><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div>To summarize a bit, I would say that the<b> three pillars of pragmatic architecture</b> are:</div><div><ul><li><span style="line-height: 1.5;">Team collaboration</span></li><li><span style="line-height: 1.5;">Evolutionary design</span></li><li><span style="line-height: 1.5;">Simplicity</span><span style="line-height: 1.5;"> </span></li></ul><div> </div></div>
Yesterday, I was co-presenting an InformationWeek webcast on Agile Development: Three Pillars of Success . With Vishy Ramaswamy , the lead architect for Design Manager, we talked about some agile architecture practices and how these practices were adopted by...002844urn:lsid:ibm.com:blogs:entries-8c054795-1eba-4290-80af-3c3e2ab27479Pragmatic Architecture, DevOps, and Cloud Computing2015-03-13T12:38:48-04:00urn:lsid:ibm.com:blogs:entry-f2545c1e-9bc7-4a2c-9b61-be7995215ac5ALM and agile design: Part 4 – Agile design to support iterative developmentjl.marechaux060001NWA6activeComment Entriesapplication/atom+xml;type=entryLikes2013-01-07T17:15:42-05:002013-01-07T17:18:05-05:00
<div><i>[Previously on ALM and agile design.....</i><a href="https://www.ibm.com/developerworks/mydeveloperworks/blogs/jlmarechaux/entry/alm_and_agile_design_part_3_sprint_planning_and_design_information2?lang=en">Part 3 - Sprint planning and design information</a><i>]</i></div><div><br /></div><div>During sprints, agile teams focus on development to deliver working software. Developers examine user stories to implement business needs. They also consider language best practices, design patterns, code complexity, or easiness to evolve and maintain the software. That's why agile design is an important activity during a development sprint.</div><div>Development is not a mechanical activity. You don't write code without thinking...and you have many opportunities to think while you develop a feature.</div><div><br /></div><div><b><font color="#4169e1">Sketches for ideation and problem solving</font></b></div><div>An image is worth a thousand words. Often, complex ideas can be conveyed with a simple diagram. Recently, I read a really serious study from researchers of an university (in UK I believe) were they tried to measure the amount of information conveyed by a picture (diagram, sketch, drawing...). They calculated a 84/1 ratio. So according to them, <b>a picture is worth 84 words</b>. It is not 1000, but it is not that bad!</div><div>So anyway, sketches are useful to convey and discuss ideas. And sketches are definitively design elements. They help teams agree on the structure and the behaviors of a component.</div><div>During a development sprint, the team can have a need for a quick design activity. The <b>“design in a flash” </b>session can happen anytime to address a new technical problem uncovered. Such design sessions are not planned ahead of time. They are part of the development activities. Only the right teammates are involved to provide their input, and the session can last only 15 minutes.</div><div><br /></div><div><b><font color="#4169e1">Designs as input to development activities</font></b></div><div>When design information is available (sketches or others), agile team members can reuse it to better understand the tasks they have to complete.</div><div>To create a test or implement a new feature, a developer can quickly take a look at the design of the component. Of course, the user story is important, but the <b>design will provide other key information</b> such as the relationship with existing components, the interfaces, or the technology to use.</div><div><br /></div><div>Because software programming requires some thinking, design is part of development activities. In a software intensive system, a component does not work in isolation. It interacts with other components. Good thinking (design) leads to <b>coherent</b> and <b>resilient architecture</b>, which is key to <b>agility</b>..</div>
[Previously on ALM and agile design..... Part 3 - Sprint planning and design information ] During sprints, agile teams focus on development to deliver working software. Developers examine user stories to implement business needs. They also consider language...001335urn:lsid:ibm.com:blogs:entries-8c054795-1eba-4290-80af-3c3e2ab27479Pragmatic Architecture, DevOps, and Cloud Computing2015-03-13T12:38:48-04:00urn:lsid:ibm.com:blogs:entry-b5217cac-b294-498e-836f-2593351e0765ALM and agile design: Part 3 – Sprint planning and design informationjl.marechaux060001NWA6activeComment Entriesapplication/atom+xml;type=entryLikes2012-12-17T14:17:07-05:002012-12-17T14:17:07-05:00[Previously on ALM and agile design.....<a href="https://www.ibm.com/developerworks/mydeveloperworks/blogs/jlmarechaux/entry/alm_and_agile_design_part_2_release_plans_iterations_and_design2?lang=en">Part 2 – Release plans, iterations, and design</a> ] <br /><br />Each sprint begins with a planning exercise where the team defines the sprint goal and the sprint backlog. Team members examine the backlog to select the most valuable stories that can be contained in the sprint.<br />During sprint planning, design information can be used for three different purposes.<br />First, to <b>assess the technical feasibility</b> of a requirement. If the new feature is straightforward, then this task can be skipped, but for more complex features, the team can explore different design options to agree on a target solution.<br /><br />Second, design information is used to identify the <b>tasks to implement the sprint stories</b>. A technical perspective on each story is needed to understand the work to complete. For some stories, the team will need to develop new component, for others, the team will need to integrate or reuse existing assets.<br /><br />And last but not least, agile team can leverage design resources to <b>evaluate the development effort.</b> If the team is using the planning poker technique, design information will help choose the right card.<br /><br />Development effort should be assessed based on the understanding of what needs to be delivered. Design information helps the team identify what can be delivered (technical feasibility) and what can be contained in the next sprint (estimation)
[Previously on ALM and agile design..... Part 2 – Release plans, iterations, and design ] Each sprint begins with a planning exercise where the team defines the sprint goal and the sprint backlog. Team members examine the backlog to select the most valuable...002130urn:lsid:ibm.com:blogs:entries-8c054795-1eba-4290-80af-3c3e2ab27479Pragmatic Architecture, DevOps, and Cloud Computing2015-03-13T12:38:48-04:00urn:lsid:ibm.com:blogs:entry-90ff0940-f030-4074-a076-bda497cb60e2Agile ALM...a teaser videojl.marechaux060001NWA6activeComment Entriesapplication/atom+xml;type=entryLikes2012-12-14T17:22:53-05:002012-12-17T12:52:01-05:00
<div> </div><div>Interested in <b>agile ALM</b> and <b>collaborative architecture</b>? Check the video at <b><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O70P8IpV0oY">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O70P8IpV0oY</a></b>. It will only take <b>3:20 minutes</b> of your time.</div><div>Then read the related article published on developerWorks and tell me more about the <b>pragmatic architecture</b> approach that you have adopted in your agile projects.<br />Share your experience! </div>
Interested in agile ALM and collaborative architecture ? Check the video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O70P8IpV0oY . It will only take 3:20 minutes of your time. Then read the related article published on developerWorks and tell me more about the...001405urn:lsid:ibm.com:blogs:entries-8c054795-1eba-4290-80af-3c3e2ab27479Pragmatic Architecture, DevOps, and Cloud Computing2015-03-13T12:38:48-04:00urn:lsid:ibm.com:blogs:entry-4d431e13-8908-4a4f-b7bf-33d319e58351Agile Tour 2012 – Big success in Montrealjl.marechaux060001NWA6activeComment Entriesapplication/atom+xml;type=entryLikes2012-11-28T09:14:02-05:002012-11-28T09:21:24-05:00
Just back from <a href="http://agilemontreal.ca/agile-tour-2012/">Agile Tour 2012</a>, a conference held in Montreal (Canada) on November 24.<br />Ok, it was not a long trip as the conference center is probably at less than 2 miles from home. <br /><br />This year, I was a member of the organizing committee. Quite an experience which started around March, an initiative led by the <a href="http://agilemontreal.ca">Agile Montreal community</a>.<br /><br />Key facts and figures from the conference:<br /><ul><li><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Sold out event: <b>500 </b>registered attendees</span></li><li><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>23 </b>speaking sessions or workshops, 7 parallel tracks</span></li><li><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>2</b> word-class keynote speakers</span></li><li><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>12</b> members on the organizing committee. Not that much for such a big event</span></li><li><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">About <b>16 </b>volunteers came to help out (thanks a lot guys!)</span></li><li><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>500+ </b>lunchboxes... wow... a lot of food. Unfortunately, I don't know how many gallons of coffee were consumed.</span></li><li><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>17</b> sponsors. Definitively helps to pay for the 500 lunchboxes</span></li><li><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">My day started at <b>4:30 am</b>. Way too early!</span></li><li><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">My speaking session was at <b>3:30 pm</b>. Way too late when you get up at 4:30 am :-)</span></li><li><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The conference ended at <b>5:00 pm</b> but a lot of people decided to keep the discussion going during the evening cocktail.</span></li></ul><br />People I talked too during the conference are not interested in the &quot;agile dogma&quot;. They value <i>&quot;pragmatic agility&quot;</i>, agility applied to their specific context. Sometimes it means <u>governance</u>, sometimes <u>ALM</u>, sometimes <u>lean</u> software development. <br /><br />So far the feedback from attendees is very good. It was an amazing day. I am glad I had the opportunity to be involved in the organization of this conference.
Just back from Agile Tour 2012 , a conference held in Montreal (Canada) on November 24. Ok, it was not a long trip as the conference center is probably at less than 2 miles from home. This year, I was a member of the organizing committee. Quite an experience...101408urn:lsid:ibm.com:blogs:entries-8c054795-1eba-4290-80af-3c3e2ab27479Pragmatic Architecture, DevOps, and Cloud Computing2015-03-13T12:38:48-04:00urn:lsid:ibm.com:blogs:entry-05da4c7f-4ed0-4728-b51c-e2e23d2f7548I am speaking at Agile Tourjl.marechaux060001NWA6activeComment Entriesapplication/atom+xml;type=entryLikes2012-11-16T10:55:55-05:002012-11-16T10:55:55-05:00I will be a speaker at Agile Tour 2012 (Montreal) on November 24. My session is about the role of the agile architect in an ALM environment.<br /><div>Here is a teaser.....I hope it will prompt people to attend the session.</div><div> </div><i>&quot;The session explains how Pragmatic Architecture fits into an agile software development lifecycle. It describes some Agile concepts applied to architecture and design. Using a realistic example, we illustrate how agile teams use design information during the ALM cycle. We also explain how teams achieve lifecycle traceability and better agility with ALM tooling.</i>&quot;<br /><br /><b>What someone can expect to take away from the presentation?</b><br /><ul><li>Discover Pragmatic Architecture: Agile concepts applied to architecture in an ALM environments</li><li>Understand how architecture and design information is used throughout an agile ALM cycle </li><li>Comprehend how tools can support agile ALM and design tasks</li></ul><br /><b>Table of content</b><br /><ul><li>ALM and agility</li><li>Pragmatic Architecture</li><li>Case study: An agile ALM scenario</li><li>Summary</li></ul><p>Interested?..... Take a look at the <a href="http://agilemontreal.ca/agile-tour-2012/">Agile Tour 2012 (Montreal) page</a> for further information.<br /></p><br />
I will be a speaker at Agile Tour 2012 (Montreal) on November 24. My session is about the role of the agile architect in an ALM environment. Here is a teaser.....I hope it will prompt people to attend the session. &quot;The session explains how Pragmatic...001245urn:lsid:ibm.com:blogs:entries-8c054795-1eba-4290-80af-3c3e2ab27479Pragmatic Architecture, DevOps, and Cloud Computing2015-03-13T12:38:48-04:00urn:lsid:ibm.com:blogs:entry-1ed5d3bb-ab42-48ae-8178-bd6ed613fa5ePragmatic architecture for agile ALMjl.marechaux060001NWA6activeComment Entriesapplication/atom+xml;type=entryLikes2012-11-02T19:32:23-04:002012-11-02T19:32:23-04:00<br /><a href="http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/rational/library/agile-application-lifecycle-management/index.html">Pragmatic architecture for agile Application Lifecycle Management</a> is a new article published on developerWorks this week. It covers Agile concepts applied to architecture using the Rational Solution for Collaborative Lifecycle Management (CLM). <br />Architecture &amp; design is a key discipline in ALM. Agile teams value pragmatism and practical experience over dogmatism and theory. They focus on key collaborative design activities that accelerate the development of software-intensive systems. Design information can help during several agile activities such as backlog prioritization, sprint planning, development, impact analysis, and technical debt reduction.<br /><br />Read more <a href="http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/rational/library/agile-application-lifecycle-management/index.html">here</a>....
Pragmatic architecture for agile Application Lifecycle Management is a new article published on developerWorks this week. It covers Agile concepts applied to architecture using the Rational Solution for Collaborative Lifecycle Management (CLM). Architecture...001712urn:lsid:ibm.com:blogs:entries-8c054795-1eba-4290-80af-3c3e2ab27479Pragmatic Architecture, DevOps, and Cloud Computing2015-03-13T12:38:48-04:00urn:lsid:ibm.com:blogs:entry-f1567929-b7de-4ad9-9872-e5167f71096eEnterprise software deliveryErikaHorrocks270004AK9XactiveComment Entriesapplication/atom+xml;type=entryLikes2012-09-26T18:21:34-04:002012-09-26T18:24:06-04:00
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<img height="200" position:relative;"="" src="https://dw1.s81c.com/developerworks/mydeveloperworks/blogs/invisiblethread/resource/enterprisedelivery2.jpg" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px; padding-bottom: 10px" width="265" />
<p style="font-style: italic;">We sat down with Alan Brown, IBM Rational CTO for Europe, and asked him about the experiences with customers that drove him to write his new book, “Enterprise Software Delivery: Bringing Agility and Efficiency to the Global Software Supply Chain”, on the <a href="http://www.cioinsight.com/c/a/Books/The-CIOs-Summer-Reading-List-609700/">CIO summer reading list</a>.</p>
<div> </div><p>Agile practices are really a key part of the way most organizations are trying to change these days. Agility means more flexibility and provides freedom, but that that kind of flexibility must come with discipline and rigor to give an organization the chance to put some control around this.</p>
<p>The mainstream agile discussion focuses on the construction of straightforward software by small, co‑located teams that are typically working in ideal conditions. But, the reality is that most teams are delivering more complex products in more complex environments. So how can agile principles be applied for these teams?</p>
<p>In the last few years I've been working with a lot of large organizations, medium‑sized organizations and even some small organizations that are starting to struggle with the adoption of agile techniques. It’s not because they're not seeing value in small‑scale integrated teams, it's because they're trying to scale the ideas of agility to the broader community that they serve. They have teams in many locations and they have supply chains with other organizations in order to create software or to deliver parts of their system. That gets very complex in any kind of software delivery situation.</p>
<p>So they've started to look at new techniques and new ways of thinking about how they can adopt agile practices as they start to scale. I have been looking at this over the last few years thinking, what's really going on here? What kind of issues are we seeing? What kinds of confusion and tensions are really creating this inability for organizations to scale? </p>
<p>One interesting thing I’ve found is that there is a fundamental change going on that is making a difference in how organizations can move. Not only move faster but also to be more efficient in how they deliver software. From this observation, I wanted to try to create a fundamental base of ideas that could give people the framework, the concepts that they'd need in order to move forward in an agile process. </p>
<p>One of the key themes that links the book together is this clash between the idea of going faster and being efficient. We all want to move faster, and we all want to deliver more value to clients more quickly. But we also want to be effective and efficient. From management’s point of view, we want to be responsible for what we deliver.</p>
<p>These concepts are more than a clash; it's a paradox between these two very different ways of thinking and working. To address and understand this paradox, we take a number of approaches that I've seen and analysis that I've done in some large accounts and some recently complex teams and extract these themes in ways that people can adapt to their particular situation.</p>
<div> </div><div> </div>
<h2>Resources</h2>
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Enterprise-Software-Delivery-Bringing-Efficiency/dp/0321803019"><b>Enterprise Software Delivery: Bringing Agility and Efficiency to the Global Supply Chain</b></a> by Alan Brown
<br />Listen to the <a href="http://www-01.ibm.com/software/rational/podcasts/2012/#205">webcast</a>
<br />Visit the <a href="https://www.ibm.com/developerworks/mydeveloperworks/groups/service/html/communityview?communityUuid=c914709e-8097-4537-92ef-8982fc416138">Agile transformation community</a> to connect with our forward thinkers
<p>
<br />
</p><p /><h2> About the Author </h2>
<p><img height="85" src="https://dw1.s81c.com/developerworks/mydeveloperworks/blogs/invisiblethread/resource/alanbrown.png" style="float: left; padding-right: 10px; padding-bottom: 10px" width="79" /></p><p>Alan W. Brown is a Distinguished Engineer at IBM Rational software, and is the IBM Rational CTO for Europe. Alan works with customers around the world on software engineering strategy pertaining to enterprise solutions, process improvement, and the transition to service-oriented solutions through IBM Rational's software delivery platform. He has extensive experience in service-based design, component-based development, software engineering environments, scaling agile projects in outsourcing environments, globally distributed development, agile in large teams and enterprise application development tools. He has published over 50 papers and authored four books. Alan holds a PhD in Computing Science from the University of Newcastle upon Tyne, UK. </p>
We sat down with Alan Brown, IBM Rational CTO for Europe, and asked him about the experiences with customers that drove him to write his new book, “Enterprise Software Delivery: Bringing Agility and Efficiency to the Global Software Supply Chain”, on the CIO...104016urn:lsid:ibm.com:blogs:entries-38ec41bf-1707-4611-9e09-dcc2fb5ebe03The Invisible Thread2015-03-25T08:51:08-04:00urn:lsid:ibm.com:blogs:entry-7f25f237-d88e-46e9-bcae-a1d0829a8298A free training on Design Management 4.0jl.marechaux060001NWA6activeComment Entriesapplication/atom+xml;type=entryLikes2012-09-23T15:52:52-04:002012-09-23T15:56:15-04:00
<div> </div><div>About 10 days ago, I blogged on the new Design Management 4.0 release. If you want to experiment with design management, you can download the <a href="https://jazz.net/downloads/design-management/releases/4.0">DM 4.0 trial edition</a>. <br /><br />Now to gain skills on DM 4.0, wouldn't it be cool to have access to some training material? </div><div>Guess what.... ? DM 4.0 contains a free self-paced training to help you adopt the product in your environment. The training includes:<br /><ul><li>Training lessons (4 modules in the <a href="http://pic.dhe.ibm.com/infocenter/rdmhelp/v4/topic/com.ibm.dm.ispt.doc/topics/c_gs_essentials_of_dm.html">Information Center</a>) to gain skills on DM capabilities</li><li>Hands-on exercises (8 labs in a <a href="http://pic.dhe.ibm.com/infocenter/rdmhelp/v4/topic/com.ibm.dm.ispt.doc/topics/c_gs_essentials_of_dm_labs.html">workbook</a>) to experiment with key DM features</li></ul><p>Again, this is free. Yes, you heard me...<b>FREE</b>! So you cannot miss this opportunity to learn through hands-on labs.<br /></p></div><div> </div>
About 10 days ago, I blogged on the new Design Management 4.0 release. If you want to experiment with design management, you can download the DM 4.0 trial edition . Now to gain skills on DM 4.0, wouldn't it be cool to have access to some training material?...001340urn:lsid:ibm.com:blogs:entries-8c054795-1eba-4290-80af-3c3e2ab27479Pragmatic Architecture, DevOps, and Cloud Computing2015-03-13T12:38:48-04:00urn:lsid:ibm.com:blogs:entry-1d6e8473-dfc2-4d9d-b7cd-f1955ad656bdRSA Design Manager 4.0 is now availablejl.marechaux060001NWA6activeComment Entriesapplication/atom+xml;type=entryLikes2012-09-11T21:44:21-04:002012-09-12T10:31:45-04:00
<div><b>The IBM Rational Solution for Collaborative Lifecycle Management has a new component!</b><br /><br /><a href="https://jazz.net/downloads/design-management/releases/4.0?p=news">Rational Software Architect Design Manager 4.0</a> has been released on September 7th. </div>This new version contains many enhancements to the 3.x release, in particular the integration with <a href="https://jazz.net/products/clm/">CLM 2012</a>. CLM and DM can share the same centralized server and repository. The common administration console provides a single interface to manage users, roles, permissions, licenses, and lifecycle projects.<br />Design Management capabilities include reviews, comment, document generation, impact analysis, configuration management, lifecycle traceability and many other features for effective collaborative design management.<br />With the addition of DM 4.0, CLM 2012 provides a comprehensive environment for agile Application Lifecycle Management (ALM): requirements management (RM), design management (DM), quality management (QM), and change &amp; configuration management (CCM). All natively integrated using the Open Services for Lifecycle Collaboration (OSLC) standard.<br /><br />With CLM 2012 (including DM 4.0), teams can link designs to requirements to ensure that technical solutions are aligned with business needs. All team members and stakeholders can easily access design information during development sprints. They collaborate on design activities and are involved in design reviews. They leverage dashboard mashups to gather information on requirements, designs, tests and changes. Application delivery is facilitated with access to real time planning. Reaction to change is improved with lifecycle traceability and impact analysis.The centralized environment provides live reports on the development team to reflect the activity and trends of the team. All the information collected during a project is used to improve the team dynamic and fine-tune the ALM platform for better productivity.<br /><br />In-context collaboration, real-time planning, lifecycle traceability, development intelligence and continuous improvement: 5 imperatives for effective ALM that CLM 2012(with DM 4.0) supports.<br /> <br />Go to jazz.net for more information on new DM 4.0 features. <a href="https://jazz.net/downloads/design-management/releases/4.0?p=news ">https://jazz.net/downloads/design-management/releases/4.0?p=news </a>
The IBM Rational Solution for Collaborative Lifecycle Management has a new component! Rational Software Architect Design Manager 4.0 has been released on September 7th. This new version contains many enhancements to the 3.x release, in particular the...001634urn:lsid:ibm.com:blogs:entries-8c054795-1eba-4290-80af-3c3e2ab27479Pragmatic Architecture, DevOps, and Cloud Computing2015-03-13T12:38:48-04:00urn:lsid:ibm.com:blogs:entry-13757743-c6c8-4381-a2c3-9b801eb9127dWebcast on Effective Collaboration for Better Designjl.marechaux060001NWA6activeComment Entriesapplication/atom+xml;type=entryLikes2012-08-22T22:07:21-04:002012-08-22T22:07:21-04:00In July, Todd Dunnavant and I presented at the <a href="https://www.ibm.com/developerworks/mydeveloperworks/groups/service/html/communityview?communityUuid=669242b1-dd91-4d63-a08f-231314c793bb">Good Design is Good Business</a>, a virtual, online conference for both clients and IBMers.<br />We talked about the collaborative design management capabilities (<b>DM</b>) that are being added to the IBM Rational offering. <br /><br />Design Management (DM) is an ALM discipline that integrates software and systems design into the lifecycle. DM extends ALM disciplines such as requirements management, change &amp; configuration management, and quality management. <br /><br />The presentation material is now available online. It covers lifecycle integration, in-context collaboration, and lifecycle traceability. <br /><br /><ul><li><a href="https://www.ibm.com/developerworks/mydeveloperworks/blogs/669242b1-dd91-4d63-a08f-231314c793bb/entry/design_management_with_rsa_8_5_effective_collaboration_for_better_design20?lang=en">Design Management with RSA 8.5: Effective Collaboration for Better Design</a></li></ul><br />Later this year, we plan to have more in-depth sessions on Design Management &amp; ALM. Stay tuned....And join the <a href="https://www.ibm.com/developerworks/mydeveloperworks/groups/service/html/communityview?communityUuid=669242b1-dd91-4d63-a08f-231314c793bb">Good Design is Good Business community group</a> to be notified about future webcasts.
In July, Todd Dunnavant and I presented at the Good Design is Good Business , a virtual, online conference for both clients and IBMers. We talked about the collaborative design management capabilities ( DM ) that are being added to the IBM Rational offering....001150urn:lsid:ibm.com:blogs:entries-8c054795-1eba-4290-80af-3c3e2ab27479Pragmatic Architecture, DevOps, and Cloud Computing2015-03-13T12:38:48-04:00urn:lsid:ibm.com:blogs:entry-921e0590-dff0-4f45-8e55-0d14c407e7a45 Biggest Challenges for Software and Systems Delivery TeamsMarcelSantilli270002FABMactiveComment Entriesapplication/atom+xml;type=entryLikes2012-05-24T11:51:09-04:002012-05-24T11:54:07-04:00
<p><img alt="https://www.ibm.com/developerworks/mydeveloperworks/blogs/invisiblethread/resource/top-five-challenges-for-software-systems-delivery-teams-Walker-Royce-IBM.jpg" src="https://dw1.s81c.com/developerworks/mydeveloperworks/blogs/invisiblethread/resource/top-five-challenges-for-software-systems-delivery-teams-Walker-Royce-IBM.jpg" style="display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto" /></p> <p><i>by Walker Royce <br />Chief Software Economist, IBM Rational software</i> </p> <p>Innovation has become synonymous with software. It’s through software that businesses can create products, systems, and services that are increasingly “instrumented, interconnected, and intelligent.” These innovations in software are becoming the source of real value to the consumer, and for many businesses it is what sets them apart from their competition. </p> <p>As you think about your organization, what is the biggest challenge you are facing NOW? What is NEXT if you want to innovate and set yourself apart from the competition? </p> <p>These issues are why our <a href="www.ibm.com/software/rational/innovate/" target="_blank">IBM Innovate 2012 conference</a> theme is “Next Now.” If you’re still undecided about attending this year’s conference in Orlando, Florida, from June 4 to 7, consider this: We’ll be addressing the biggest challenge facing software and systems delivery teams: accelerating software delivery cycles. Here are the <b>top five challenges facing software and systems team</b>, which will be part of our keynote presentations and technical tracks at the conference:</p> <p> </p> <ol> <li><b>Technology is now the #1 concern for most businesses.</b> <br />This is perhaps the most striking result of IBM’s recent <a href="http://www-935.ibm.com/services/us/en/c-suite/ceostudy2012/" target="_blank">CEO study</a>. And technology means software, the engine that drives business outcomes. Today’s macro business and technology trends (cloud, mobile, analytics, etc.) necessitate better lifecycle management of software and systems. Software innovation = business innovation, and accelerating software delivery is the key to business success. <br /></li> <li><b>We must balance the needs and capabilities of practitioners and stakeholders. <br /></b>We must provide management with improved steering mechanisms (measurement control and economic governance) and enable practitioners with more freedom to innovate (through automation, process enactment, and change freedom, complexity management, reduced scrap and rework, etc). Today, management governance and practitioner freedom are competing forces. We need a platform that integrates governance and freedom so they are complementary, not competitive. The goal is less overhead and more freedom for practitioners AS WELL AS more predictable, well-governed outcomes for stakeholders. <br /></li> <li><b>We must rely on more honest collaboration across the lifecycle. </b>This allows better steering, smarter development analytics, and earlier resolution of uncertainties. Leading enterprises have optimized the critical software development operations through metrics, automated instrumentation, and drillable dashboards. They’ve gone from a typical two-week build cycle to a daily build cycles. This has been enabled by real time automation of measurement and reporting, which allows <a name="_GoBack">data collection directly from the engineering code and test base so </a>practitioners spend less time in status reporting and more time in code and test. <br /></li> <li><b>We must build continuously evolving systems, products, and applications. <br /></b>Which means the improvements in <i>integration</i>, <i>collaboration</i>, and <i>optimization</i> must span the broader software supply chain. The systems and software lifecycle is expanding. There are more stakeholders, more roles in development, deployment, manufacturing, and operations. The lifecycle now extends further back into design and further forward into operations. We need to bridge the gaps in the lifecycle with solutions in analytics, social business and <a href="mailto:agility@scale">agility@scale</a>. <br /></li> <li><b>We need more engineering, less overhead.</b> <br />Accelerated delivery requires improvements in our internal cycle times through automation and integration of tools, data, and change management. Continuous delivery capabilities -- including test-driven development, model-based systems engineering, continuous deployment, transparency, and measurement -- are available NOW in IBM's lifecycle platform, and we’d like to show you how our current platform integration, team collaboration, and optimized process can improve your team’s productivity quality of products, all leading to better business outcomes. </li> </ol> <p> </p> <p>At <a href="www.ibm.com/software/rational/innovate/" target="_blank">Innovate</a>, we’ll illustrate how automating overhead tasks leads to more freedom for accelerated software delivery and better instrumentation and control. And our announcements will provide details on how you can improve the breadth of integration, collaboration, and optimization across a broader IT and systems delivery lifecycle. </p> <p>I look forward to meeting you there.</p> <p> </p> <p> </p><hr /> <h5><b><font color="#808080">About the author</font></b></h5> <hr size="2" width="100%" /> <p><img align="left" alt="image" src="https://dw1.s81c.com/developerworks/mydeveloperworks/blogs/invisiblethread/resource/Walker-Royce-IBM-Chief-Software-Economist-IBM-Rational_2.jpg" style="margin: 0px 10px 0px 0px; display: inline" /></p> <p><b>Walker Royce</b> is the Chief Software Economist for IBM Rational. He joined Rational in 1994 and served as Vice President of Professional Services from 1997 to 2003. He has managed large software engineering projects, consulted with a broad spectrum of IBM’s worldwide customer base, and developed a software management approach that exploits an iterative life cycle, industry best practices, and architecture-first priorities. He is the author of Software ProjectManagement: A Unified Framework (Addison-Wesley, 1998).</p>
by Walker Royce Chief Software Economist, IBM Rational software Innovation has become synonymous with software. It’s through software that businesses can create products, systems, and services that are increasingly “instrumented, interconnected, and...1014058urn:lsid:ibm.com:blogs:entries-38ec41bf-1707-4611-9e09-dcc2fb5ebe03The Invisible Thread2015-03-25T08:51:08-04:00urn:lsid:ibm.com:blogs:entry-9b15831e-3bb7-438a-9fd5-97b6e4585b2cALM and agile design: Part 2 – Release plans, iterations, and designjl.marechaux060001NWA6activeComment Entriesapplication/atom+xml;type=entryLikes2012-05-11T20:43:18-04:002012-10-15T09:48:43-04:00
<div>[<i>Previously on ALM and agile design..... </i><a href="https://www.ibm.com/developerworks/mydeveloperworks/blogs/jlmarechaux/entry/alm_and_agile_design_part_1_the_pragmatic_architect?lang=en">The pALMatic architect</a>]<br /><br />Agile teams develop software iteratively. The product backlog lists all the stories to implement and the team decides which ones they will address during the next release or iteration. In an ALM environment, teams want to plan and align their activities across all the disciplines, including requirements, design, development, and tests. The real challenge is to identify the right set of features to develop first. Any mistake in the priorities will lead to plan commitments that you will not be able to deliver. For most teams, business value is an important factor to prioritize the product backlog. But other aspects must also be considered, such as risks and dependencies. </div>Seasoned agile teams want to address risk early in the process to remove uncertainties as soon as possible. When a story may imply some technical challenges, it is a safe approach to increase its priority. Also, pragmatic practitioners know that some dependencies may exist between stories. Sometime, a high priority story can only be implemented once the work of a related story is completed. So when a new iteration starts, it is important to identify the most risky stories and to uncover the dependencies between features. This information influences development priorities for the team.<br /><br />How can you identify risks and dependencies? In most software-intensive systems, practitioners must apprehend the structure of the application before they commit to deliver any change. They must also understand the impact of a new story or a change request on the existing code. This is where design helps. It provides insights to the team so that they prioritize the backlog based on concrete information. With a quick access to a design element or a diagram, team members can decide if the priority of a story must be increased. They may even conduct a brief brainstorming session to better understand the technical challenges.<br />Design management is an integral part of ALM to deliver software-intensive systems in a complex environment. During planning activities, agile teams refer to design information to make rational choices. The backlog is prioritized as the team takes into account the business value, the risks, and the dependencies.
[ Previously on ALM and agile design..... The pALMatic architect ] Agile teams develop software iteratively. The product backlog lists all the stories to implement and the team decides which ones they will address during the next release or iteration. In an...101508urn:lsid:ibm.com:blogs:entries-8c054795-1eba-4290-80af-3c3e2ab27479Pragmatic Architecture, DevOps, and Cloud Computing2015-03-13T12:38:48-04:00urn:lsid:ibm.com:blogs:entry-92f4da94-f8e0-4b37-86a2-c889a9c90021ALM and agile design: Part 1 - The pALMatic architectjl.marechaux060001NWA6activeComment Entriesapplication/atom+xml;type=entryLikes2012-04-13T10:46:33-04:002012-10-15T09:48:16-04:00
<i>Today I am starting a series on ALM and Agile design (probably 4 or 5 different posts in the coming weeks).</i><br /><br />A
bit like humans, software-intensive systems are conceived, come to
life, grow, evolve, do their job to contribute to business goal
achievements, are retired, and die. Application Lifecycle Management
(ALM) is the process of managing a system throughout its entire life. <br />In
small teams and simple environments, core agile practices are usually
enough to manage applications. For agility at scale, things are a bit
more complicated. ALM is often defined as an approach that integrates
disciplines as diverse as requirement management, design management,
quality management, and change and release management. Benefits are
obvious. ALM breaks down functional silos and promotes collaboration and
role-focused views of the application lifecycle. The entire team gets
greater insights into the project. Actionable information leads to
better productivity, improved quality.... and enhanced customer
satisfaction.<br /><br />Design management is a key building block in ALM.
The pragmatic architects do not work in isolation (read more on <a href="https://www.ibm.com/developerworks/mydeveloperworks/blogs/jlmarechaux/entry/about_pragmatism_in_architecture3?lang=en">Pragmatism in architecture</a>)
. Those completing
architecture and design tasks want to understand the business needs
(requirement &lt;--&gt; design). They also have to make sure that the
design supports the implementation of the solution (design &lt;--&gt;
code). And design is eventually validated by some tests to validate its
quality (design &lt;--&gt; tests).<br />In other words, design
participates in lifecycle traceability. During the life of the
application, the pragmatic architect evolves and refines the design to
meet changing requirements and new technical challenges. And the
pragmatic architect also ensures that the design information is
available for efficient requirement management, quality management, and
change management. <br /><br /><div>The <a href="https://www.ibm.com/developerworks/mydeveloperworks/blogs/jlmarechaux/entry/about_pragmatism_in_architecture3?lang=en">pragmatic </a>architect is also a <b>pALMatic </b>architect:<b><br /></b><ul><li><b>A</b>: <i>Adapt </i>to changing requirements and new technical challenges</li><li><b>L</b>: <i>Link </i>design to other lifecycle artifacts (requirement, test, code, changes)</li><li><b>M</b>: <i>Manage </i>design information to help other ALM stakeholders<br /></li></ul></div><div> </div><div>Design management is an integral part of ALM to
deliver software-intensive systems in a complex environment. The
pragmatic architect manages design information and conducts design tasks
for successful and collaborative ALM. <br /></div>
Today I am starting a series on ALM and Agile design (probably 4 or 5 different posts in the coming weeks). A
bit like humans, software-intensive systems are conceived, come to
life, grow, evolve, do their job to contribute to business goal
achievements,...001955urn:lsid:ibm.com:blogs:entries-8c054795-1eba-4290-80af-3c3e2ab27479Pragmatic Architecture, DevOps, and Cloud Computing2015-03-13T12:38:48-04:00urn:lsid:ibm.com:blogs:entry-542037db-26d0-4c0c-8a21-090f20eb30ecALM and agilityjl.marechaux060001NWA6activeComment Entriesapplication/atom+xml;type=entryLikes2012-03-30T09:52:35-04:002012-05-25T10:25:04-04:00
If you ever worked in a project where a scaling factor applies, you know that appropriate tooling can help a lot achieve your objectives. But on the other hand, tools are often identified as impediments for agile adoption.<br /><br />The <a href="https://www.ibm.com/developerworks/mydeveloperworks/blogs/ambler/entry/agile_scaling_model?lang=en">Agile Scaling Model</a> defines several reasons why you may work in an environment where core agile practices are not sufficient. But even in such an environment, you want to ensure your product owner, your scrum master, your development team, and your stakeholders collaborate efficiently through sprints and releases.<br /> <br />IBM Rational provides an ALM (Application Lifecycle Management) for disciplined agile teams. Based on Jazz, the platform integrates requirement management, design management, quality management, and change management. Team members and stakeholders have access to the same project information and assets from a web browser. Anytime, from anywhere (distributed teams will appreciate!). They can collaborate through a centralized platform., The Jazz repository provides real time status on project progress. And the team can quickly react to changes by leveraging lifecycle integration and traceability, dashboards, queries, impact analysis, an reports.<br /><br />Because the ALM platform leverages OSLC, you can even integrate with other OSLC compliant vendors. No more vendor lock-in. No more silos. Everyone working together to deliver better software. This is agility for ALM ! <br />
If you ever worked in a project where a scaling factor applies, you know that appropriate tooling can help a lot achieve your objectives. But on the other hand, tools are often identified as impediments for agile adoption. The Agile Scaling Model defines...001463urn:lsid:ibm.com:blogs:entries-8c054795-1eba-4290-80af-3c3e2ab27479Pragmatic Architecture, DevOps, and Cloud Computing2015-03-13T12:38:48-04:00urn:lsid:ibm.com:blogs:entry-9ea1d8af-107b-4be4-9f72-c62d3484a0e4Agile Adoption Success FactorsScottAmbler120000HESDactiveComment EntriesLikes2012-03-09T10:23:09-05:002012-03-09T10:27:15-05:00
<div>In November 2011 Paul Gorans, the Accelerated Solution Delivery (ASD) practice lead in IBM GBS, and I ran an <a href="http://www.ambysoft.com/surveys/agileStateOfArt201111.html">agile adoption survey</a>. The survey explored a range of issue, including the factors that appear to be associated with the success and failure of agile project teams. Paul wrote up his thoughts in his <a href="http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/rational/agile/agile-survey/index.html?ca=drs-">Agile State of the Art Survey</a> article on ibm.com and I did the same for Dr Dobb's Journal in <a href="http://drdobbs.com/architecture-and-design/232601858">Agile Success Factors</a>. This blog posting summarizes the results of the survey.<br /><br /><br />Factors which appear to accelerate agile adoption include:</div><ul><li> People are assigned to a single team</li><li> Development teams have easy access to <a href="http://www.agilemodeling.com/essays/activeStakeholderParticipation.htm">business expertise</a></li><li>Development teams are organized for <a href="http://www.disciplinedagiledelivery.com">agile delivery</a> (not traditional)</li><li>Your organization has an agile support group/community of excellence</li><li>Your organization is explicitly addressing barriers to agility</li><li>There is executive sponsorship for agile</li><li>Agile teams are measured on value creation</li><li>Your organization's <a href="http://www.ambysoft.com/onlineWritings.html#Governance">IT governance</a> strategy includes an agile path<br /></li></ul><div> </div><div>Factors which appear to decelerate agile adoption include:</div><div><ul><li> Agile teams are measured using traditional metrics</li></ul></div><div> </div><div> The survey also explored whether organizations were succeeding at <a href="https://www.ibm.com/developerworks/mydeveloperworks/blogs/ambler/entry/large_agile_teams?lang=en">large team agile</a> and <a href="https://www.ibm.com/developerworks/mydeveloperworks/blogs/ambler/entry/agile_and_geographical_distribution15">geographically distributed agile</a> teams (yes, they are).<br /></div>
In November 2011 Paul Gorans, the Accelerated Solution Delivery (ASD) practice lead in IBM GBS, and I ran an agile adoption survey . The survey explored a range of issue, including the factors that appear to be associated with the success and failure of agile...2016070urn:lsid:ibm.com:blogs:entries-59010112-9143-447a-ba21-e36e0f009a6bAgility@Scale: Strategies for Scaling Agile Software Development2015-01-19T21:45:56-05:00urn:lsid:ibm.com:blogs:entry-2020d216-ffdc-4dbd-8ac1-64c7021ac029The most-loved articles about Rational software from 2011jl.marechaux060001NWA6activeComment Entriesapplication/atom+xml;type=entryLikes2012-02-17T13:01:56-05:002012-02-17T13:04:12-05:00
On February 14th has been published the list of the <a href="http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/rational/library/top-10-2011.html">most-loved Rational articles in 2011</a>. Even if I am not sure what “most-loved” means here (can you really be in love with a technical paper??), I am glad to see that the one I wrote on architecture with RSA 8 is on the list. (<a href="http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/rational/library/define-application-architecture-rational-software-architect-1/index.html">http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/rational/library/define-application-architecture-rational-software-architect-1/index.html</a>) <br /><br />But I must that this popularity raises a couple of questions. Published last October, the article has been viewed almost 15 000 times. I also created e-books from the article and they reached over 200 downloads since November 22, 2011. So why is this article so popular? Is it because it talks about RSA 8? Or because it covers an agile practice, the evolutionary architecture? Maybe there not enough enablement resources available on RSA. Maybe architecture is not covered properly by the agile community? <br /><br />I'd like to have more feedback from the community. If you read this post, do not hesitate to contact me.<style type="text/css">
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On February 14th has been published the list of the most-loved Rational articles in 2011 . Even if I am not sure what “most-loved” means here (can you really be in love with a technical paper??), I am glad to see that the one I wrote on architecture with RSA 8...001426urn:lsid:ibm.com:blogs:entries-8c054795-1eba-4290-80af-3c3e2ab27479Pragmatic Architecture, DevOps, and Cloud Computing2015-03-13T12:38:48-04:00urn:lsid:ibm.com:blogs:entry-76dec219-2d99-47b0-9b64-109a03c4883fWhy agilists should care about OSLCjl.marechaux060001NWA6activeComment Entriesapplication/atom+xml;type=entryLikes2012-02-01T11:41:10-05:002012-02-01T11:41:10-05:00If you ever worked in a project where a scaling factor applies (see the <a href="https://www.ibm.com/developerworks/mydeveloperworks/blogs/ambler/entry/agile_scaling_factors?lang=en">scaling factors description</a>), you know that an appropriate tooling can help a lot. To deliver a software-intensive system, agile teams need to collaborate efficiently in a complex environment. In many cases, a white board with sticky notes is not enough, so teams adopt specific tools according to their needs for iteration management, test automation, or continuous integration (just to name a few).<br /><br />If you have experience in software-intensive system delivery, you also know that when your tool set is not adapted to the needs of your team, it becomes a barrier to adopting agile practices. Agile is a highly collaborative approach to software development. If your different tools are not integrated, you are wasting time managing the links between project assets manually instead of focusing on creating working software. I have seen many projects using spreadsheets or wiki pages to compensate for the lack of integration between their development tasks, business needs, design assets, and quality management systems. It is a time consuming and error prone process. And when you need to figure out the impact of a changing requirement on a piece of code, it takes hours where it should only take minutes.<br /><br />Open Services for Lifecycle Collaboration (<a href="http://open-services.net/about/">OSLC</a>) is an open community creating specifications for integrating tools. These specifications allow conforming independent software and product lifecycle tools to integrate their data and workflows in support of end-to-end lifecycle processes. <br />With OSLC, your team can link elements from your defect tracking tool, your requirements management tool, your test management tools, and your design management tool. You may argue that traceability already exists with tooling platforms provided by some vendors. True. But what if you have a task tracking tool from vendor A and a test management tool from vendor B? Then integration no longer exists, or relies on some proprietary mechanisms. Do you really want to restrain your options to one unique vendor.<br /><br />OSLC specifies a minimum amount of protocol to allow independent tools to work together relatively seamlessly. You can have quality management tools from vendor A and decide to use requirements tools from vendor B. Both will be integrated if they comply to OSLC. And later one, you will also be able to acquire another OSLC tools from vendor C without compromising your lifecycle integration.<br /><br />So how does OSLC help agile team? Simply by enabling integration between lifecycle tools. If your team members must collaborate, your tools must work together too. Integrated tools help agile teams react quickly to changes and deliver software frequently.<br /><br />(Watch the IBM OSLC video on YouTube for more details: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B2vqL8fujgE">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B2vqL8fujgE</a>)
If you ever worked in a project where a scaling factor applies (see the scaling factors description ), you know that an appropriate tooling can help a lot. To deliver a software-intensive system, agile teams need to collaborate efficiently in a complex...001955urn:lsid:ibm.com:blogs:entries-8c054795-1eba-4290-80af-3c3e2ab27479Pragmatic Architecture, DevOps, and Cloud Computing2015-03-13T12:38:48-04:00urn:lsid:ibm.com:blogs:entry-8d43711d-17e2-4e31-9f45-99965f17ee8bBetter quality and agility with collaborative designjl.marechaux060001NWA6activeComment Entriesapplication/atom+xml;type=entryLikes2012-01-18T14:34:58-05:002012-01-27T14:23:01-05:00
Success in agile development comes from teamwork. No matter which agile process you apply, collaboration is always at the heart of recommended best practices. Quality systems are also based on good design to make them easier to maintain and extend. The <a href="https://jazz.net/library/article/771">Better quality and agility with collaborative design</a> article demonstrates how Rational Software Architect Design Manager enhances collaboration on design activities.
Success in agile development comes from teamwork. No matter which agile process you apply, collaboration is always at the heart of recommended best practices. Quality systems are also based on good design to make them easier to maintain and extend. The Better...001118urn:lsid:ibm.com:blogs:entries-8c054795-1eba-4290-80af-3c3e2ab27479Pragmatic Architecture, DevOps, and Cloud Computing2015-03-13T12:38:48-04:00urn:lsid:ibm.com:blogs:entry-9b244dcb-871b-46fa-88d6-616027226a0aFlextime and flexplace. You may be more distributed than you think.jl.marechaux060001NWA6activeComment Entriesapplication/atom+xml;type=entryLikes2011-11-29T14:03:33-05:002012-01-18T13:53:33-05:00
Distributed teams are often defined as teams with members in different offices, cities, or countries. Compared to collocated teams, they need more disciplined approaches to address the specific communication and collaboration challenges that they are facing. But geographically distribution is not the only factor to consider. Some collocated teams may fail in their agile endeavors because they do not their working environment. <br /><br />Let's take the (fictitious) example of SatoriGeeks, a small company specialized in innovative solutions for the finance industry. They have a team of 6 people to develop their current solution. They all work at the SatoriGeeks office in Montreal, Canada. They have an open space to sit together for better collaboration, they have scheduled daily meetings for better progress status. They have also adopted a whole team approach with cross-functional people to maximize project success. <br />What can go wrong with this small collocated team? Their working environment may actually be more complex than it appears at first glance.<br /><br />Marie, the product owner, is often visiting customers to understand their concerns. On a typical week, it is rare to see her at her desk. Simon, a team member, had a new baby girl last year. To balance work and family life, he is working from home twice a week. Rachel has flexible working hours (she lives in the Montreal south shore and tries to avoid peak hours to cross the bridge). Thomas had a knee injury playing tennis a couple of months ago. Since the beginning of the project, he must visit the physiotherapist twice a week during working hours. And he works from home when the knee hurts to much.<br />So for many good reasons, key members of the team are not always able to meet in the same workspace. Communication is affected, collaborative work is not as effective as it used to be. The team should consider itself as a distributed team because they have flexible working hours.<br /><br />Flextime and flexplace has become mainstream in many organizations. It is too often considered as an human resources matter only, although flexible working hours affect project teams. Even if they are small and collocated, teams like SatoriGeeks would benefit from a more disciplined agile process to facilitate collaborative.:<br /><ul><li>Tooling to support collaborative lifecycle management (backlog, sprint, real-time status)</li><li>Centralize platform to share ideas and documentation.</li><li>Tooling to enhance collaborative design management and development</li></ul><br />Flextime and flexplace should lead collocated teams to consider some agile practices usually adopted by distributed team.
Distributed teams are often defined as teams with members in different offices, cities, or countries. Compared to collocated teams, they need more disciplined approaches to address the specific communication and collaboration challenges that they are facing....002037urn:lsid:ibm.com:blogs:entries-8c054795-1eba-4290-80af-3c3e2ab27479Pragmatic Architecture, DevOps, and Cloud Computing2015-03-13T12:38:48-04:00urn:lsid:ibm.com:blogs:entry-20b5050d-597f-435a-99bf-2d24a2ea7d95Evolutionary architecture with RSA v8jl.marechaux060001NWA6activeComment Entriesapplication/atom+xml;type=entryLikes2011-11-22T20:10:27-05:002012-01-18T14:06:22-05:00
Back in October, I published two papers on how to define application architectures with Rational Software Architect V8.<br /><ul><li><a href="http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/rational/library/define-application-architecture-rational-software-architect-1/index.html">Envision the architecture</a></li><li><a href="http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/rational/library/define-application-architecture-rational-software-architect-2/index.html">Iteratively refine the architecture </a></li></ul><br />In addition to the web version of the articles, I have created e-books for on-the-go readers. Nothing too fancy, but simple books compatible with most eBook reader tools. The PRC format is quite generic and works for Kindle or for readers on PC, Mac, and Android. The EPUB works for iPod/iPad/iPhone and Adobe Digital Editions.<br /><br />- <a href="https://www.ibm.com/developerworks/mydeveloperworks/files/app?lang=en#/person/060001NWA6/file/17abfaa1-5a6c-4684-9ca6-0e32c3f4abfa">Download the epub ebook</a><br /><div> </div><div>- <a href="https://www.ibm.com/developerworks/mydeveloperworks/files/app?lang=en#/person/060001NWA6/file/dd351bcf-dfca-4932-9162-6c4a05f44e66">Download the prc ebook</a></div><br />
Back in October, I published two papers on how to define application architectures with Rational Software Architect V8. Envision the architecture Iteratively refine the architecture In addition to the web version of the articles, I have created e-books for...003394urn:lsid:ibm.com:blogs:entries-8c054795-1eba-4290-80af-3c3e2ab27479Pragmatic Architecture, DevOps, and Cloud Computing2015-03-13T12:38:48-04:00urn:lsid:ibm.com:blogs:entry-341a7b8a-7715-489c-a683-35843294baf7About pragmatism in architecturejl.marechaux060001NWA6activeComment Entriesapplication/atom+xml;type=entryLikes2011-11-18T13:03:23-05:002012-04-12T09:11:40-04:00
<b>\'prag-me-ti-zem\:</b> a practical approach to problems and affairs.<br /><br />In software engineering, <b>architecture </b>is a concept difficult to define precisely. One word is used for very different concepts such as functional architecture, data architecture, solution architecture or enterprise architecture. In addition, boundaries between architecture and design are unclear. Some say they are similar concepts. Others argue that they are complementary concepts with different levels of abstraction. <br />The real question is not what architecture is or is not. The real question is whether or not architectural analysis is useful for your project. And most of the time, if your are developing software-intensive systems, the answer is <b>YES</b>. It is where pragmatism comes into play.<br /><br />Many methodologies try to define the architectural work that you should complete. Some fundamentalists recommend that you define your architecture before you start your development. Dogmatic theoreticians say that architecture is a waste of time and that only code matters. Pragmatic architecture is about adopting the approach that works best for you. And what is best for you is not necessarily what is best for others. <br />The pragmatic architect focuses on essential concrete tasks and prioritizes the work according to the value it brings to the project. The pragmatic architect is open-minded and never refuses to consider a solution just because it is not the trend of the year. The pragmatic architect revisits the design as the development of the system progresses.<br /><br /><br />Your goals during <b>p.r.a.g.m.a.t.i.c</b> architectural activities<br /><ul><li><b>P</b>: Promote collaborative work that involves all team members</li><li><b>R</b>: Reduce risks and uncertainties</li><li><b>A</b>: Adhere to minimalism and simplicity principles</li><li><b>G</b>: Gather key elements to outline the architecture during your initial timed-boxed iteration </li><li><b>M</b>: Modify the design throughout the development lifecycle to adapt to emergent needs </li><li><b>A</b>: Address both functional and non-functional requirements</li><li><b>T</b>: Try out theoretical concepts and leverage past empirical experience</li><li><b>I:</b> Invest in known requirement instead of hypothetical future needs</li><li><b>C</b>: Concentrate on tasks that support the development team</li></ul><br />As architects, we must value <b>pragmatism and practical experience</b> over dogmatism and theory.<br /><br />
\'prag-me-ti-zem\: a practical approach to problems and affairs. In software engineering, architecture is a concept difficult to define precisely. One word is used for very different concepts such as functional architecture, data architecture, solution...207888urn:lsid:ibm.com:blogs:entries-8c054795-1eba-4290-80af-3c3e2ab27479Pragmatic Architecture, DevOps, and Cloud Computing2015-03-13T12:38:48-04:00